As the age of the fully autonomous vehicle draws closer with developing technology, cybersecurity is going to be a key consideration for this new era. 

With an increase in the frequency and severity of cyber-attacks affecting large organisations such as Equifax and British Airways, the difficulty to defend against cybercrime in an increasingly digital world is evident and begs the question; how will driverless cars address this issue?

The concept of the driverless car is one which echoes convenience and it seems inevitable, with the rate in which technology is developing, that these will soon be a reality. Before they have been implemented, however, there is the issue that they could likely be seen as a target for hackers, especially as they require millions of lines of code. This addition to the Internet of Things arena poses a significant threat to cybersecurity as the number of connections will inevitably rise as fully autonomous vehicles will need to communicate with each other and objects around them such as traffic lights and junctions.

The biggest cyber concern surrounding fully autonomous vehicles is the risk of third parties being able to hack into the system and control the car, and its functions, remotely. In 2015, two hackers conducted an experiment on a Jeep Cherokee in which they proved they could hack into the car’s entertainment system to take over the car’s dashboard, steering, brakes and transmission functions.

Alongside the risk of a driverless car being hacked, is the risk that hackers could retrieve an individual’s personal information if they gained access to the car’s system. The biometric information that would be used to lock and unlock the vehicle, such as facial recognition, could be used for other applications such as online banking or even connected devices in the home that use this technology.

Cybersecurity should be a priority for any organisation producing, acquiring or working with fully autonomous vehicles. The UK government has introduced the ‘Autonomous and Electric Vehicles’ Bill, and guidelines for ‘The Key Principles of Cyber Security for Connected and Automated Vehicles’ which is an excellent start. However, the organisations in which consumers will be putting their trust need to prove they take cybersecurity seriously and have robust protections in place.

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